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What do the month of May, the 50th anniversary of the Pill and a pending big bill for rental tuxedos and pretty dresses have in common?
If you guessed the Prom, you’re about half right — and, some would say, maybe a little morally jaded. But if you have a news announcement that can somehow be pegged to the season, or an event in history like The Pill after five decades, you have got a solid news hook to exploit. Maybe you have a similar birth control issue, or a clinic or hospital that does reproductive research of some kind. Maybe you work with an organization or individual that is against the Pill and has published something, or lectured about it.
In any event, the media loves to hang stories on anniversary dates, seasonal occasions and headline trends. The coming month of May is traditionally a big month for weddings. Got a new type of wedding gift or gadget, or maybe you’ve reinvented the perfect wedding ceremony? This is a good month to go to your local media, or if it’s a really hot story, national newspapers and broadcast. The big national magazines that cover this stuff will have already done their wedding and wedding-related stories a few months ago so that these magazines are on newsstands right at the end of April, staring out at you like forlorn single people in search of the perfect mate. But you could see if any of their writers are blogging.
Find your killer PR theme in the procession of seasons and in traditional month-based occasions like The Prom, weddings, and, of course, Mother’s Day. Your chances of coverage will improve greatly. Which reminds me, the bill for my kids’ rental of tuxes and dresses are due about the same time as Mother’s Day, since they’re all in our former babysitter’s big fat wedding. It’s the price one has to pay for the ties that bind.
